Welcome! I'm a graduate
student in the Chris Elphick Lab at the University of Connecticut,
Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology.

That's me on the left. A
juvenile Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrow on the right.

I study the influence of marsh size and natural and anthropomorphic habitat
features on the movement and
survival of Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrows (Ammodramus caudacutus)
in
Connecticut
.
Using radio telemetry, I investigate the survival and shared patterns of
vegetation and landscape use by A. caudacutus females and their
offspring. How similar are the movements of fledgling sparrows to their
mother’s? Does this relationsihp change depending on the size of the natal marsh or other factors?

I'm also
working with my advisor and the USGS and Canadian Bird Banding Labs to
identify and characterize the problems researchers have experienced with
radio-tagging passerines.

Research
Interests: I'm interested in
how disturbance, introduced species, patch-connectivity, and human settlement patterns
influence the movement of animals across the landscape, and how these
movements contribute to fitness. You could say that I am broadly
interested in all of those factors, or (more accurately) that I’m interested in the
interaction of all of them: especially in habitat-limited species.

Take a look at my links on
the side of this page for some more information about me and thanks for visiting!
Curious about my research? Feel free to contact me at jason.hill(at)uconn.edu.